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Driver who tricked speed cameras using jamming device attached to his BMW jailed for three months

Michael Twizell was driving his BMW 3-series in Harrogate when the device attached just above the car's number plate flashed an error message in the speed camera system
UPDATED MAR 4, 2020
(Source : Getty Images)
(Source : Getty Images)

A businessman who failed to trick a speed camera by attaching a jamming device to the front of his BMW has now been jailed.

In February last year, 58-year-old Michael Twizell used a laser jamming device in a bid to outsmart a police safety camera van parked on the side of the A658 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Daily Mail reports.

When the camera system flashed an error message, police understood someone had tampered with it, forcing them to launch a probe. According to reports, the jamming device is designed to block the signal used to monitor the speed of passing vehicles.

The 58-year-old was sentenced at York Crown Court Monday to three months in prison and ordered to pay a £1,500 ($1,932) fine for "perverting the course of justice" after detectives found the device fixed to the front of his BMW 3 Series.

"The police have a duty to protect us from speeding vehicles," the judge told Twizell during sentencing, adding that the device used had interfered with due process. Asserting that he had no choice other than to impose an immediate custodial sentence, he upheld that perverting the course of justice was a "serious" offense and that the courts "must stop people offending in this way."

Traffic Constable Andy Forth from the Traffic Bureau Investigations team at North Yorkshire Police spoke to reporters after the hearing. "To use this device which was capable of interfering with police speed measurement is clearly, as shown today, a very serious matter," he said. "Drivers may face a custodial sentence for using such a device in this way. North Yorkshire Police will continue to investigate similar allegations when people use these devices to interfere with the normal course of justice."

Forth advised people to think about the consequences of using such a device before fitting them and strongly recommended they remove it from their vehicle to avoid prosecution in the future. 

Michael Twizell stepped down as marketing director with West Yorks-based Elite Systems last year. The company is known for manufacturing modular eco-friendly commercial buildings and homes.

Managing director Marcus Sutcliffe commented on Twizell's retirement after serving a staggering 22 years with the firm. "Mike has been instrumental in the growth of Elite Systems into the company it is today, and I would like to thank him for his long service and wish him all the best for his retirement," he said. "Mike's diligence over the years has put us in a good position to expand our operation in the future."

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